Three new recipes I've tried recently & weekly meal-prep example!

Hi lovelies! I hope that you’re having an amazing week so far and that you enjoyed your weekend! This past weekend was justttt what the doctor ordered. I was luckily able to catch up on the nutrition course that I’m taking, do some podcast work, and cook my little heart out.

One of my favorite things to do each week is plan our meals and what recipes we are going to try. Dan and I both split the cooking pretttttty equally, but we make a great team in that I am SUCH a planner/list maker, so I will usually do the grocery list/meal planning. Dan doesn’t mind going to the grocery store at all (it is just NOT my thing at the end of the week) and we both pitch in on the actual meal prep!

I absolutely LOVE trying new recipes when I have time on the weekends, and I wanted to share the ones I tried this past weekend with you!

Dan and I both use almond milk on a daily basis in our breakfasts. I have always been curious about making my own, but the idea of using a nut milk bag was somewhat intimidating (also, let’s just pause for a second - the name “nut milk bag”???!! I know, I know.) When I saw this recipe, I got excited to push myself outside of my comfort zone! This was actually my favorite recipe out of the three I tried, because I know what an impact it will have for us. After soaking the almonds, blending them was an absolute breeze, and so was straining the milk through the nut milk bag! I can definitely see myself making a large batch before each week, and I love that all I need to purchase is a bag of raw almonds. I’m looking forward to cutting out the gums and crazy ingredients in some almond milks by making our own!

Curry Powder // Meghan Telpner, The UnDiet Cookbook

What you’ll need: Coriander seeds, cumin seeds, ground turmeric, yellow mustard (I purchased the pre-ground version, as that was all that was available), fennel seeds, cardamom seeds, whole cloves, ground ginger, and ground nutmeg. I also included cayenne because my Dan and I enjoy a spicier curry powder. I usually purchase a pre-made curry powder blend at the grocery store, so this recipe was an absolute treat to make. This recipe was so quick and easy, but I noticed that toasting the spices really brought out the aroma and flavors of the spices. It was also my first time using a mortar and pestle to grind the spices which was harder work than I anticipated (and a good arm workout!) I planned a recipe for the week (chickpea-curry soup) featuring this recipe and just tried it today and it’s DELISH!

When I saw that this recipe was an assignment for my nutrition course, I knew we had to make some pulled pork in our slow cooker to go with it. I did make some modifications to the recipe because garlic and onion are two high-FODMAP foods that really irritate my stomach. I removed the diced red onion and minced garlic and instead substituted some garlic-infused olive oil in this recipe. I also purchased my favorite low-FODMAP tomato sauce brand – Rao's Sensitive Sauce. I also added an additional pour of Apple Cider Vinegar for some more tang. Blending the sauce once it finished cooking on the stovetop created a silky-smooth texture – perfect for topping pulled pork!

Finishing our weekly prep // Lunch/dinners for the week

I decided to make a slow cooker recipe from one of my FAVORITE recipe resources, The Kitchn. The Curried Vegetable and Chickpea Stew is delicious, and I was able to use my fresh curry powder in the recipe. For dinners during the week, we decided to make some pulled pork in the Instant Pot. Dan did a delicious spice rub on the pork, we cooked it in the instant pot, and also bought some avocados to make a guacamole mix on the side. We also used some of the homemade BBQ sauce in the Instantpot and on the side of the pork.

You can probably tell - I love to incorporate the recipes I’m testing into our meals for the week so that nothing goes to waste. We typically try to meal prep our lunches/dinners on Saturday or Sunday. It helps sooooo much to allocate a few hours to set yourself up for the week. We also make it fun — we put on some music, and get to chopping and cooking together. I also tend to make my smoothie the night before work, so that it’s easy grab and go in the morning.